History of the club

York Caving Club was founded in 2009 to complement the local university caving club (yucpc.org.uk) and provide a means for the growing non-student caving population of York and the surrounding areas to persue all aspects of the sport, and to ensure that caving remains as popular in the area as it has always traditionally been. During our first few years we’ve had some excellent trips (see some of our reports) including longer trips to Wales, Ireland and Montenegro. The club has now grown from the first founding members, but remains small enough to be welcoming and easy to get involved with, while still being very active in both sporting caving and digging.

Why should I go caving?

As well as being great exercise and a cheap day out, caving is a community of great people, all brought together by the desire to explore the unknown, to feed their sense of adventure and to be involved in one of the most social (and non-competitive) extreme sports around. For some people caving is all about the people you meet and the fun times you have together, both above and below ground. For some it’s about the sport and the personal challenge. For others it’s about enjoying the experience of going somewhere that very few people ever go, and seeing the amazing things that hardly any people ever see – the world beneath our feet! And for others it’s about a fascination with the underground, the geology or the hydrology. For most however, it is all these things. No matter what club you become involved with, if caving is your thing, it’ll provide you with a hobby and friends that can last a lifetime. 

Objectives of our club

We are an active club open to new members of all ages and backgrounds. We aim to offer our members the chance to get involved with regular caving and digging trips, as part of a friendly and capable team, and to persue an interest in all aspects of caving.

What kind of events do we run?

We try to ensure that our day trips vary significantly between caves and potholes, between very challenging trips and more gentle days out, and between classic and more unusual or less well visited caves. We often organise mine trips and have weekly digging events.

We usually have a couple of weekends away each year, either camping or staying in a caving cottage or bunkbarn, and most years we try to organise a more extensive long weekend away or a caving holiday. Previous trips away have included County Clare, South Wales, Yorkshire Dales, North Wales and Montenegro. In addition to caving, food and beer are our other big passions, and we have regular socials, including house parties, meals and pub meets and an annual Christmas meal event.

How are our events organised?

Many club meets (including day-trips, weekends away and holidays) are organised in advance, and are posted in December for the following year. We generally aim to have a minimum of one event per month (usually more often during summer months) organised this far in advance to allow people to put the dates in their diary for the events that interest them.

Additional day trips and socials are usually organised throughout the year, and all members are welcome to either request an event to be organised, or to organise and post an event themselves. We have regular pub meets and an online member forum for planning such impromptu events.

All organised events are posted on the website and are then available for members to sign up to electronically. Closer to the time the event organiser will contact all those attending to confirm the arrangements. Attending an event is usually as simple as signing up online and then just turning up!

What gear does the club own?

We own rope, maillions, krabs, slings, rope protectors, tacklesacks and spits, everything you need to bottom any UK cave, or run most exchange trips. The gear is stored just outside of York City Centre and is accessible and available for all members to use at all times with minimal advanced planning.

What costs are associated to the club?

Membership is an annual fee which is reduced quarterly throughout the year. In addition to this, BCA membership is also required if you don’t already have this (we will arrange this for you). Members pay no trip fees, and so the more trips you attend, the better value for money you get from your membership! For information on first time membership click here.

What links do we have with other caving clubs?

We have strong links with the York University club (YUCPC) to help ensure experience is passed on to the next generation of cavers, and to provide a means for former students to continue caving after university.  Some of our members are former or current YUCPC members.

We are regularly involved with our neighbouring club, the North York Moors Caving Club (formerly Scarborough Caving Club), and the digging projects that we are involved in are run jointly between our two clubs.

What digging projects do we have?

You may have read about the discovery of Excalibur Pot (Descent 202) by us and the North York Moors Caving Club. We are involved with several digging projects in the North Yorkshire Moors and we believe that there’s a lot more to this area than meets the eye. We are always short on manpower, and therefore all members are welcome to come along and get involved.

How do I find out more about joining the club?

All the information you need, including the application form and frequently asked questions about membership can be found on our membership page. Any other questions then simply contact us.